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Spirits and Saints
These are minor deities, nature spirits, saints, or ascended heroes; beings of limited power, and who have a relatively small number of worshippers. They do not have formal churches, though they may have shrines or other holy sites; some may be revered only locally, in a single town or city. Many do not have clerics, though they may have devoted adepts. Some are friendly and may grant boons to lucky or virtuous mortals, while others are decidedly more sinister. Nessa, the Lilac Girl A nature spirit revered in the small town of Foxhaven. She is responsible for making the lilacs bloom in the spring, and offerings are made to her during the town's annual Lilac Festival. Nessa is portrayed as a young girl with silver hair and purple eyes. It is said that she watches over small children. Saint Veng the Beggar Saint Veng was a soldier of an unknown country. He lost an arm in a war and was forced to beg on the streets of his home city. When the Apocalypse arrived, he gathered up the people of the slums and led them out of the city to a cave where they waited out the first dark days. When the dust settled, he strapped a shield to the stump of his arm and guided his charges through the ruins of civilization. Veng's band of beggars survived through the dark times, and so did the worship of Veng. He is the patron saint of beggars, cripples, and those who scavenge at the fringes of society. Mother Caerwyn Caerwyn was an ancient nature spirit and a good friend of the goddess Yoma. Caerwyn fell in love with a human man and left the spirit world to marry him and bear his children. Many years later, a band of raiders swept across the land, and Caerwyn's husband was killed in defence of their town. Fearing for her life and the lives of her five children, Caerwyn took them down to the lake and entreated Yoma to save her family. In response, Yoma turned Caerwyn and her children into willow trees. It is said that these trees are among the willows for which Willowdale is named. Kouteign Kouroo It is said that when the world was covered in fire and no life yet existed in the poisonous seas, there existed the great serpent, Kouteign Kouroo (Ko-TAIN Ka-ROO). In the time of the red light, when all life began, Kouteign Kouroo made the canyons and the valleys from the lashing of his coils. Modern interpretation of the myth suggests a form of dinosaur or proto-dragon that was so impossibly large and alien, it could not possibly survive in the modern world. Indeed, a set of bones matching this description was found in the Hyrcanian Desert. The serpent is one of the four foes mentioned in the third Scroll of Fahz Murb. The Bagman Also called "Sack Man", "Child-snatcher" or "Delsaco", the bagman is a mythological bogeyman who steals children and places them into an oversized bag he carries over his shoulder. Some tales regard the bagman as a demon who takes the children he catches to hell, while others portray him as an unseelie faerie who catches children who misbehave. The bagman myth is likely attributed to actual 'orphan catchers' who would apprehend orphan children in large cities. Qallupilluit Barbarian legends tell of wicked women who live beneath frozen oceans, and lure children to the cracks in the ice where they can reach out and drag them underwater. Qallapilluit only lure humanoid children and shy away from fully-grown humanoids. Since all Qallapilluit are female and do not seek out males of other species, their method of reproduction is a mystery; some darkly suggest that not all of children they lure to the ice are intended for eating. Modern scholars classify the Qallapilluit as "Frost Hags", related to other species of hags. Qallapilluit, however, only form coveys with other Qallapilluit, and attack all other hags on sight. The reason for this is not known. A covey of Qallapilluit has been encountered in the Everice. Weeping Woman The Weeping Woman is a nature spirit worshipped in the plains, whose tears are said to bring the rain. Long ago, whenever there was a drought, the people of the plains were said to send a hero to find the Weeping Woman in order to tell her of their plight. The stories of suffering would move her to cry, thus ending the drought. Via Morgana A capricious lesser deity of roads, maps, and travel, Via Morgana is recognized in southern Laurasia for both inspiring cartographers and bringing travelers together for long journeys. However, she also has a sinister side: when angered, she can create illusions of roads, lakes, or even whole towns just to confuse travelers. As worship of Sarenrae began to spread, locals in the south stopped worshipping her as a deity, and treated her more as a force of nature. Today, her name is used idiomatically in certain areas of the south to describe dangerous pathways or journeys. Lark and Gale These two musicians, fey in appearance, are revered as powerful muses who can grant mortals the power to evoke purest emotion; Lark embodies True Joy and Gale embodies True Sorrow. Though they are not strictly speaking worshipped, many bards leave them offerings of honey on Beltane in the hopes of gaining inspiration. Some lucky individuals report actually encountering the two musicians. In these encounters, Lark appears as a young woman with long blonde hair, and Gale as a pale man clad in black. Though the pair are generally benevolent towards an appreciative audience, legends warn that their duet is capable of killing a moral listener. Much debate exists among scholars as to the true nature of these figures: truly divine, powerful fey, ascended mortals, or legendary humanoid bards posing as nature spirits. In many versions of these stories, Lark and Gale are either siblings or lovers. In still other versions, "Lark" and "Gale" are not individuals, but aliases used by a group of fey creatures or humanoid bards. Noemia encountered the pair on her vision quest. Category:Deity Category:History